... running commentary on business, the arts, and other musings

September 5, 2005

Katrina informs us of the Value of Time

Katrina has spread its wings wide over the Gulf Coast, leaving a swath of distruction on a scale that defies description.

In spending time with relatives and friends while on vacation and seeing this signal event take place before our eyes, I am learning again the value of Time. The use and abuse we make with Time is emblematic of the human condition. It is always relative to our own small place in the world. But spending time with close family members is very important, because we never know when the Time we have available now will no longer be available to us or to them.

Sickness or accident may be the event, the cause may be by human or environmental intervention, but in the end, we will no longer have access to their smile, their warmth, their idiosyncrasies, or they to ours. Let's spend a little time with family, with friends and with neighbors so we know who we are to help when disaster strikes, because there will be many strangers also, and having a friend or neighbour close by in times of trouble provides at least some moral support.

If you can, send help; if are able, go help; if you can do neither, simply pray. We are all subjects of this one small and lonely planet, and it demands our collective respect.